The Mulberry Dress
by Lady LonelyLove
Summary: Toto is a handsome, well-build man, who lives with his best friend and never goes outside unless he has to. But one day, on a surge of wannabe-productiveness, he decides to go for an outing and actually do something for a change. That's when he discoveres a girl dressed in a mulberry-colored dress, and finds an inevitable interest in her. AU/One-Shot.


**Okay, so I randomly had the idea to make a story about a romance between Toto and character of my own creation, but i'm not quite sure of it. I want to add it on my to-be list of stories, but for now I am going to make it a one-shot, and see what you guys think.**

**So please, don't hold back, and give it your all. If you don't know what to give, just answer this question: Should 'The Mulberry Dress' be a full-blown story?**

**If you can review and tell me what you think, I would be ever-so greatful :)**

**CIAO  
-LL**

The Mulberry Dress

"Headed out?"

While there was truly a base of curiousness in the question that was directed towards the man of whom was headed to the door, the way it was said represented surprise, as if it were an absurd and most humorous thing.

Toto turned to Baron as he slipped on his coat and unfolded the collar."Yes, I am." He replied, giving his friend a deadpan stare as if it were nothing to laugh at.

Despite the stare, Baron grinned from across the room, sitting cross-legged on the sofa, with a sketch book and charcoal gently held in his hands. He looked disheveled, with his tawny hair a mess atop his head, and his vest buttoned in the wrong places, wrinkled beyond repair. He had rings around his eyes, like he had been staying up late again, but that was no surprise to Toto.

"Honestly Baron, is it that much of a surprise that I'm going for an outing?" The raven-haired man asked, slipping into his shoes.

"It is when I have been your best friend for years and in the time that we've known each other, there has never been a era where you just 'went for an outing' at a random time in the day." The Baron pointed out, wiggling his charcoal at him.

"Yeah, well, what if I told you, that you neglected to rejuvenate our food and drink supply?"

There was a moment of silence as Baron smiled sheepishly and shrunk under the inquisitive look of his friend."Oh…right…whoops."

Toto rolled his eyes, unable to suppress a grin as he opened the door and stepped out into the chilly hallway of the apartment building."I'll be back in a jiff." He called.

As the grey-eyed man made his way down the stairs, and stepped out of the building, he pondered Baron's words. _The carrot-top's right. _He thought to himself, breathing a large amount of the crisp, clean winter air into his lungs. _I don't normally go out. It's usually just an ordinary day in the apartment doing anything but going outside. Maybe that's why the nerd got a girlfriend before me._

This was when a smile came across his face as he remembered the day Baron came back to the apartment with a beautiful brunette in hand. She was truly remarkable; a strong-willed young lady with a taste for adventure. It was a wake-up call for Toto when he realized that his nerdy, know-it-all best friend got a girlfriend before he did, despite the fact that Toto was the handsome one. He even tried going for her once, but she was pretty intent on staying with Baron, and rejected every advance he made on her.

That was only a few months ago, and while Toto did try to make an improvement on his life, he wasn't doing well. Today he got a surge of confidence after watching a movie about a boy that turned his close life around just by going outside, and decided that he should try his hand at it. And so he went, lucky enough to use the Grocery card so as to not raise suspicion from his friend. He hated it when Baron got on his case.

Surprisingly, though, he was enjoying the outing: the bustle of people crowding the streets in an effort to get their Christmas shopping done; the smell of hot chocolate and steaming pastries from the near-bye café; the happy, cheery laughs of children playing tag in the park. It was so busy, so – _lively_.

By the time he came to the grocery story, he was in a pretty good mood; smiling like a madman as he walked through the automatic door, probably creeping out some of the locals. Usually, when he was stuck on grocery duty, he would get the shopping done as fast as he could, so that he could get home more quickly and avoid coming in contact with any human being. But this case was different; this time he was taking his time and picking out quality food and drinks, and even picking up the spices for Baron's weekly tea batch.

As he walked down the street, narrowly avoiding wide-eyed wives and groaning husbands, he found the smell of the local café was intoxicating, and decided that he wanted a hot chocolate. He sat down at a table on the street, ordered his drink, and peacefully observed the business of the Christmas season.

That was when a tinkle of laughter caught his ear.

It seemed to come out of nowhere, yet at the same time, everywhere. He sat upright in his chair, curious about the sound, looking around him to see exactly where it came from. The laugh came again, and his grey eyes flickered to a table that was pushed against the glass window of the café. At the table sat a group of girls, laughing, and giggling, and overall enjoying their time.

_Mulberry…_

Facing away from him sat one of the girls: in her gloved hand he could see a steaming Styrofoam cup that was no-doubtedly filled with hot chocolate. She had a pale pink scarf wrapped around her neck, her sandy, blond-streaked hair pulled over her shoulder.

But that wasn't what caught his eyes.

She was wearing tight, black demine pants while on her feet were a pair of dark-brown boots that were decorated with fur and hanging puff balls. Around her legs flowed a silky, elegant, knee-lengthed mulberry-colored dress.

As an enthusiast of everything mulberry, Toto couldn't help stare at that dress. He had always seen people eating things that were based around mulberries, and even mulberries themselves, but he had never actually seen anyone wear it.

"You're hot chocolate, sir." A smiling waitress called cheerily as she walked up to him, setting a steaming Styrofoam cup on the table in front of him, snapping him out of his daze.

"Oh… right." He said, slowly recovering from his stupor. He handed her a tip and watched her enthusiastically skip away as he brought the cup to his lips. He let the delicious drink pour into his mouth and down his throat as he closed his eyes and reveled in this tiny slice of Heaven.

When he opened his eyes again, they immediately flickered over to the table. He was bewildered to find it was empty, the mulberry girl nowhere to be seen. He frantically looked around for it until he found her and her group of girls discarding their empty cups in the trash bin near-bye. She still wasn't facing him.

Determined to find out who this mysterious person was, he shot out of his chair, taking his groceries in hand and running towards mulberry girl, who was in danger of leaving his sight. But before he could get any close to her, a crowd of angry shoppers got in his way, pushing and shoving as they furiously grinded against each other to get to the next Christmas novelty shop. One of them rutted him in the gut, and he hunched over with his hands wrapped around his stomach, eyes shut with pain.

As quickly as he could recover, he looked to the direction of the girl, but she was nowhere to be seen. When the pain in his abdomen receded to only a dull ache, he sprinted over to where he last saw her, and spun around in an effort to find her.

He couldn't.


End file.
